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On Thursday, Congress witnessed two crucial votes aimed at securing funding for the federal government. Both the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate attempted to address funding for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), but both efforts ended in failure.
The Senate took the lead, with Democrats moving cautiously on the final piece of the funding puzzle. The vote concluded at 51-45, with Senator John Fetterman of Pennsylvania being the only Democrat to oppose the measure.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, a Republican from South Dakota, expressed frustration in an interview with Fox News. He criticized Democrats for “rebuffing” Senator Katie Britt, a Republican from Alabama, who had been delegated by the GOP to spearhead negotiations. Thune suggested that the decision to overlook Britt and the Republican perspective appeared to be influenced by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer.
This political maneuvering unfolded shortly after a significant development in the Trump administration. President Trump announced the replacement of DHS Secretary Kristi Noem with Senator Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma, a move that was covered extensively by my colleague, Bob Hoge.
John Fetterman joined Republicans voting YEA
Chuck Schumer and the Democrats are TRAITORS and must… pic.twitter.com/g6lEnSyXeJ
— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) March 5, 2026
🚨 BREAKING: The US Senate has just FAILED to advance the DHS funding bill, which means DHS will likely shutdown tomorrow night
Fetterman was the lone Democrat to vote in favor.
These idiots aren’t shutting down ICE, because ICE is FULLY FUNDED for the year.
They’re shutting… pic.twitter.com/6RiMataVKz
— Nick Sortor (@nicksortor) February 12, 2026
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, (R-SD) told Fox News in the story linked above that “Democrats had ‘rebuffed’ Sen. Katie Britt, R-Ala., whom he anointed to run point for the GOP in negotiations, after repeated attempts to reach out to their counterparts,” adding that “it appeared the decision to ignore Britt and Republicans was coming from Schumer.”
This first sortie by Democrats happened just minutes after news broke about Pres. Trump replacing DHS Sec. Kristi Noem with Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-OK), as my colleague Bob Hoge wrote in several pieces.